When I was picking songs to share as my top five riffs of the 2000’s, I noticed just how many of my favorite extreme metal songs are from the 1990’s. I wasn’t surprised; the 90’s were a time of exploration, a time when extreme metal and progressive metal branched out into more and more moods and ways of self-expression. With Gothenburg melodeath, Stockholm’s lovely little group of dark progressive metal, and Florida death metal, the 1990’s also saw the emergence of several of my personal favorite music scenes. So many of these bands were more focused on songwriting than on riffs, so bands like Opeth, Katatonia, Edge of Sanity, and In Flames sadly won’t be on this list, despite my enormous love for their work and the fair number of powerful riffs they do play. That said, I’m excited to share my selection of 90’s riffs, so here we go!..

Death – “To Forgive Is to Suffer” @ 1:15 (The Sound of Perseverance, progressive death metal)

Death’s discography is so solid that there’s really no wrong choice for a favorite album, song, or riff. The Sound of Perseverance has been my favorite since it blew me away upon my first listen; each song, to my ears, has some powerful moment to it, and the musicianship is all-around fantastic. It’s difficult to pick a favorite riff from The Sound of Perseverance, let alone a favorite Death riff, but the riff off this album that hits me the hardest has to be the badass drop-riff in “To Forgive Is To Suffer.” This riff comes out of nowhere, with a dramatic buildup, and then explodes.

Iced Earth – “Burnt Offerings” @ 0:52 (Burnt Offerings, power-thrash metal)

Burnt Offerings is the Iced Earth album that resonates with me most. This album feels darker than a lot of their other work, and it’s full of tight and badass riffs by mainman Jon Schaffer. This particular thrashy riff on the title track enters after a cryptic intro sequence, and it just has such hellish fury to it! It’s so fast and frantic, tight and stunning. I attempted to record my own version of this riff when I went on a recording craze with my first Line 6 POD and it didn’t come out anywhere near as tight!

Nevermore – “The Seven Tongues of God” @ 0:11 (The Politics of Ecstasy, progressive thrash metal)

Ladies, gentlemen, and all those in-between, I give you Jeff Loomis once again.

His presence on this list should come as no surprise to anyone who read my previous list. Nor to anyone who knows that I love my Jeff Loomis 7-string despite my inability to play flashy leads. I simply love this man’s riffs, you see.

Take, for instance, the first, oh-so-thrashy riff Nevermore throw at the listener in “The Seven Tongues of God.” Oh my, The Politics of Ecastacy has such an atmosphere to it! So cool to me that it has this bleak, “cold-yet-warm” feeling that Nevermore create mainly through relatively technical and tight musicianship. While there are some more dazzling riffs on this album, this thrash riff just feels so dark and visceral that I couldn’t ignore it for this list’s purpose.

Testament – “Legions Of The Dead” from start (The Gathering, thrash metal)

Okay, The Gathering kicks ass. Here is… yet another… album from which there is no “right” answer for a favorite riff, as this album is pretty straight-up a bombardment of some of the tightest thrash riffs to come out of 1999. While “D.N.R.” and “Down For Life,” absolutely crush, “Legions of the Dead” is so noteworthy for its frantic, breakneck and bombastic riffing. The main riff I’m thinking about here is that main, super-fast verse riff, but really this whole song is a bombardment of thrash riffs from a legendary thrash band whose fire shows no signs of fading to this day.

At The Gates – “Need” from start @ (Slaughter of the Soul, melodic death metal)

Please don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love melodic death metal! I just don’t really think of it as a “riff” genre for the most part, most of the parts of melodeath songs that captivate me are the melodies and feels. However, like some of its 90’s contemporaries, Slaughter of the Soul is quite a riffy melodeath album, and frankly it is unholy fire, deserving of its enormous influence on modern metal. My favorite song and riff from Slaughter is the penultimate “Need,” which like other songs on this list feels frantic and dark. I absolutely love how this song breaks to a quieter version of its main melancholic melody at the end, it’s absolutely chilling.

The 90’s did have some other great riff-based melodic death metal such as Dark Tranquillity’s Skydancer, unique for its mostly-through-composition. These songs had upwards of a dozen riffs per song! It’s a super interesting little scene that toned back its experimentation as it matured, worth a look for sure.

Thank you so much for reading! Coming soon are my favorite riffs of the 2010’s, and perhaps a look at the cyberpunk 2D RPG, Dex. I may also take a look at early melodic death metal, how early releases from bands like Dark Tranquillity and At The Gates often go overlooked. Stay safe and keep in-touch with your passions and your loved ones!